Varney the Vampire eBook

The mysterious friend of Mr. Chillingworth finished
his narrative, and then the doctor said to him,—­

“And that, then, is the real cause why you,
a man evidently far above the position of life which
is usually that of those who occupy the dreadful post
of executioner, came to accept of it.”—­“The
real reason, sir. I considered, too, that in
holding such a humiliating situation that I was justly
served for the barbarity of which I had been guilty;
for what can be a greater act of cruelty than to squander,
as I did, in the pursuit of mad excitement, those
means which should have rendered my home happy, and
conduced to the welfare of those who were dependant
upon me?”

“I do not mean to say that your self-reproaches
are unjust altogether, but—­What noise is
that? do you hear anything?”—­

“Yes—­yes.”

“What do you take it to be?”—­“It
seemed like the footsteps of a number of persons,
and it evidently approaches nearer and nearer.
I know not what to think.”

“Shall I tell you?” said a deep-toned
voice, and some one, through the orifice in the back
of the summer-house, which, it will be recollected,
sustained some damage at the time that Varney escaped
from it, laid a hand upon Mr. Chillingworth’s
shoulder. “God bless me!” exclaimed
the doctor; “who’s that?” and he
sprang from his seat with the greatest perturbation
in the world.

“Varney, the vampyre!” added the voice,
and then both the doctor and his companion recognised
it, and saw the strange, haggard features, that now
they knew so well, confronting them. There was
a pause of surprise, for a moment or two, on the part
of the doctor, and then he said, “Sir Francis
Varney, what brings you here? I conjure you to
tell me, in the name of common justice and common
feeling, what brings you to this house so frequently?
You have dispossessed the family, whose property it
is, of it, and you have caused great confusion and
dismay over a whole county. I implore you now,
not in the language of menace or as an enemy, but
as the advocate of the oppressed, and one who desires
to see justice done to all, to tell me what it is
you require.”

“There is no time now for explanation,”
said Varney, “if explanations were my full and
free intent. You wished to know what noise was
that you heard?”

“I did; can you inform me?”—­“I
can. The wild and lawless mob which you and your
friends first induced to interfere in affairs far beyond
their or your control, are now flushed with the desire
of riot and of plunder. The noise you hear is
that of their advancing footsteps; they come to destroy
Bannerworth Hall.”

“Can that be possible? The Bannerworth
family are the sufferers from all that has happened,
and not the inflictors of suffering.”—­“Ay,
be it so; but he who once raises a mob has raised
an evil spirit, which, in the majority of cases, it
requires a far more potent spell than he is master
of to quell again.”